Check our NJEA's new tenure certificate, which you can customize with your members' names, local president's name and signature, and the name of your local association. Then, print them out and distribute them in a special recognition ceremony!

You can find the new tenure certificate on njea.org's Tools for Leader's page under Engaging New Members:

Recently, an NJEA member helped us create a new ten-minute meeting called, "Congratulations! You've earned tenure!" The talking points in the meeting kit help dispel the myth that tenure "guarantees a job for life."

I recently met an early career NJEA member who had this to say about tenure:

"My friends in the public sector talk about tenure sometimes, and they usually say we shouldn't have it -- largely because they don't have it. So, I educate them by comparing my job to a McDonald's employee. I tell them that, for example, when a McDonald's employee is let go, it's because he or she made a mistake or his or her work was unsatisfactory. A public school employee can be let go 'just because.' Also, when McDonald's employees arrive to work, they have everything they need to do their jobs, and their jobs are clearly explained to them. Public employees do not have this. We spend hundreds of dollars every year on school supplies for our students. My administrator admitted to me that she did not understand NJ's new evaluation system, had not received any training on it from the State BOE, and she was basing my rating on the fact that, 'I'm not allowed to give any teacher a '4' in this category because the superintendent says so.' Imagine a McDonald's employee showing up for work and being told there are not fries, and they would have to buy them on their own. Then, they are told to go cook burgers when they haven't been shown how to. This is what teachers go through, and it's why tenure is important."

I recently heard from one local association who hosts a tenure celebration and awards a certificate to each of their members who earn tenure. The local president has members approach the podium, and as they do so, she offers anecdotes on their classroom practices or inspiring stories about each.